Pain Management - Information for Health Professionals

We provide the following clinics to assess your patient:

  • Multidisciplinary pain clinic - Your patient will see the pain medicine physician, physiotherapist and psychologist for a pain management plan.
  • Pain medicine physician clinic - Your patient will be assessed by the pain medicine physician and referred to the Multidisciplinary team as required.
  • Geriatric Pain Clinic - Your patient will be assessed in our specialised, multidisciplinary clinic for older persons with multiple comorbidities and complex medical issues. 
  • Subacute clinic - Your patient will be assessed for preventative treatment by the pain medicine physician. Our clinic aims to reduce the risk of long-term pain, multidimensional comorbidities, polypharmacy and drug dependence.

Your patients may be referred for assessment by our psychiatrist, addiction medicine specialist, social worker or occupational therapist.

Treatments

Following a comprehensive assessment by our team, your patients could be offered the following:

  • Land-based group exercise program
  • Pain Physiotherapy strategies to help your patient find more comfortable ways to move and use their body
  • Psychological pain management, such as cognitive-behavioural therapy (CBT), relaxation techniques and/or pain education
  • Our pain management program, which includes CBT, mindfulness and physical activation in a group or individual setting
  • Our occupational therapy program, which provides support for work-related issues, functional assessment and pacing of activities
  • Group mindfulness meditation 
  • Social work interventions and counselling.

Interventional strategies may be used to diagnose and manage pain, including:

  • Diagnostic nerve blocks
  • Diagnostic infusions for the evaluation of pain
  • Therapeutic nerve blocks, including radiofrequency neurotomy and neurolytic blocks
  • Intraspinal infusions of analgesics
  • Neuromodulation techniques, including transcutaneous electrical nerve stimulation (TENS), transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS), transmagnetic stimulation (TMS), epidural spinal cord stimulation, dorsal root ganglion stimulation and intraspinal analgesic infusion
  • Implantation of intrathecal baclofen pumps for the management of intractable spasticity.

We also conduct inpatient consultations for severe, pre-existing or uncontrolled pain, or when requested by other specialist teams.

Our clinic is located in the Adult Outpatients Department, Campus Centre Building, Prince of Wales Hospital (building 16 on our campus map). Information about how to get to our Randwick campus

Clinic Name

Clinic Day

Clinic Time

Multidisciplinary Pain Clinic

Wednesday

8.30am-12.30pm

Dr Kok Eng Khor

Tuesday

Alternate Friday

1.30-5.00pm

8.30am-12.00pm

Dr Chimene Bhar

Tuesday

Alternate Wednesday

1.30-5.00pm

1.30-5.00pm

Dr Teik Tay

Tuesday

Alternate Wednesday (subacute clinic)

1.30-5.00pm

8.30am-12.00pm

Dr David Gorman

Friday

Alternate Monday & Wednesday

8.30am-12.00pm

2.00-5pm

Dr Sachin Shetty

Alternate Wednesday

2.30pm-4.00pm

Dr Benjamin Teo

Alternate Tuesday

Alternate Friday

1.30-5.00pm

8.30am-12.00pm

Dr Candice Wallman

Friday

8.30am-12.00pm

Dr Swapnil Sharma

Wednesday

Alternate Friday

8.30am-5.00pm

1.30-3.00pm

Dr Apo Demirkol

Alternate Wednesday

8.30am-12.00pm

Rural and remote telehealth clinic

Once a month

2.00-4.00pm

Tony Hollins, Clinical Psychologist

Monday, Tuesday, Thursday &  Friday

9.00am-4.00pm

Skye Sadokierski, APA Titled Pain Physiotherapist

Monday to Thursday

Varying times

Josephine Wan, Clinical Psychologist

Monday

Wednesday

8.30am-5.00pm

1.00-5.00pm

Edel O’Hagan, Pain Physiotherapist

Wednesday

Friday

8.30am-5.00pm

8.00am-4.30pm

Nurse Clinic

Monday

9.00am-12.30pm

Our Consultants 

Full Name

Position Title and/or Subspecialty

 A/Prof Kok-Eng Khor

Senior Staff Specialist; Pain Medicine and Anaesthesia

Dr Chimene Bhar

Senior Staff Specialist; Anaesthesia

Dr Teik Tay

Senior Staff Specialist; Pain Medicine and Anaesthesia

Dr David Gorman

Senior Staff Specialist; Pain; Palliative Care and Internal Medicine

Dr Sachin Shetty

Senior Staff Specialist; Pain and Rehabilitation  Medicine

Dr Benjamin Teo

Staff Specialist; Pain and Geriatrics Medicine

Dr Candice Wallman

Staff Specialist; Pain and Rehabilitation Medicine

Dr Swapnil Sharma

Senior Staff Specialist; Psychiatry  

 A/Prof Apo Demirkol

Senior Staff Specialist; Addiction Medicine

Our Health Professionals 

Full Name

Subspecialty

Tony Hollins

Clinical Psychologist

Skye Sadokierski

APA Titled Pain Physiotherapist

Josephine Wan

Clinical Psychologist

Edel O’Hagan

Pain Physiotherapist

Inclusion criteria 

We accept patients with:

  • Any form of chronic pain that interferes with the patient’s functional status and quality of life
  • Pain in the subacute phase with high levels of analgesic use (e.g. opioids), patient distress and risk of progressing to chronic pain
  • Patients with intractable cancer pain, where interventional strategies are being considered for ongoing oncological and palliative care.

Additional criteria:

  • We accept patients aged over 18
  • Appointment preference will be given to patients who residue within the South Eastern Sydney Local Health District. Please refer to the Pain Australia website to access a national pain service directory.

    Exclusion criteria 

    Interstate referrals will not be accepted. Please refer to the Pain Australia website to access a national pain service directory.

    Urgent referrals 

    Please clearly state whether your patient needs to be seen urgently in your referral letter. Urgent referrals include:

    • Cancer pain
    • Suspected complex regional pain syndrome
    • Post-herpetic neuralgia

    Please review our services provided and referral criteria. 

    Referral forms

    If your patient is eligible for treatment, please use this referral form. Fax the referral form to (02) 9382 2870 or (02) 9382 0422, or email: seslhd-powpainmanagement@health.nsw.gov.au  

    All mandatory information must be complete. The referral form ensures that you do not miss any mandatory information to enable a timely and appropriate referral.

    Mandatory information for public and private referrals

    You may receive a fax requesting a review of your referral if any of the following information is missing:

    • Patient details, including full name, date of birth, phone number and Medicare number
    • Consultant name (for private referrals)
    • Clinic name 
    • Next of Kin details
    • Reason for referral 
    • Diagnosis 
    • Clinical urgency
    • Results from investigations.

    Private referrals (bulk-billed through Medicare)

    All patients have the right to choose to be treated as a public or private patient for outpatient attendances. If your patient chooses to be treated privately and bulk-billed through Medicare, your referral must meet the following criteria:

    • You must address the referral to one Consultant from our Specialist team, not the hospital, clinic, outpatient department or JMO
    • You must sign and date the referral, and include your provider number and practice address
    • You must state the period of referral in months, or refer “indefinitely”
    • You must provide this referral on or prior to the appointment date.

    We cannot process your referral if it does not meet the above criteria prior to your patient's initial appointment.

    Your patient can choose to amend your referral on the day of their initial appointment. If you provide a private referral that is addressed to a Consultant, your patient may choose to: 

    • Seek treatment from another provider within our team and change the Consultant's name on the referral themselves, or
    • Decide to be treated as a public patient for their initial appointment, for which the private referral will be valid.

    Please note that it is also inappropriate for our Administration team to recommend a Consultant for your patient. We have listed the names and specialties of our Consultants above to help you decide on the most appropriate practitioner. 

    Urgent referrals 

    If your patient needs to be seen urgently, please call the Prince of Wales Hospital switchboard on (02) 9382 2222 and ask to speak with the Pain Fellow.

    Who will contact your patient to schedule an appointment?

    A questionnaire will be emailed or sent to your patient via post when we receive your referral. 

    Once we receive the completed questionnaire, the referral letter and questionnaire will be triaged. An appointment is then allocated to your patient. A letter with details of your patient's appointment will be mailed to their residential address. 

    Usual wait times may vary. An urgent referral will be seen within 4 weeks.  A non-urgent referral may be seen in up to 4 months.

    Who can you contact to follow up on a referral? 

    You may contact the Pain Management Secretary on (02) 9382 2863 to follow up on a referral.

    What is the process if a patient misses or cancels their appointment?

    If your patient needs to change or cancel their appointment they should phone (02) 9382 0400.

    If a new patient appointment is missed or cancelled (and not rebooked), we will send the referral back to you. If a follow-up appointment is missed or cancelled, we will send you and your patient a letter. 

    We are a Medicare service. You must provide a referral that is addressed to one of our Specialist team. Your patient will be bulk-billed.